1^1 







ill"" 



iiliii 



ii!t 



mm 



iiii' 




Class ^^Jl^1^_L 
Book /H 2 S ^ i 

Gopyiight W.. 



COFVIilGHT DEPOSfT: 



/ 



The Corn Lady 




THE CORN LADY 



Tke Corn Lady 



The Story of 

a Country 

Teacher s 

Work 



JESSIE, field) 5l:a^hd'-l<^} 

County Superintendent of Schools 
Page County, Iowa 



J > » 



A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 
CHICAGO 



-<)\ 



"o 



\- 



0\^C^ 



1? 



^ 



COPYBIOHT 1911 

By 

A. FLANAGAN COMPAJS N' 






^^^ 



€^0^295191 



DEDICATED TO MY FATHER 
AND ALL OTHER NOBLE, IN- 
TELLIGENT FARMERS— THE 
PRODUCERS— UPON WHOM 
WE ARE ALL DEPENDENT. 



The Corn Lady 



Wheaton, loway September 3, 1910 

Dear Daddy : — Yes, I have really taught 
my first day of country school. I do like 
it, just as I always thought I would, for 
there is so much that must be done. You 
know how I love the country, Daddy, and 
how way back in those dear days at Sunny- 
side Farm, I used to declare in my few seri- 
ous moments that I was going to be a coun- 
try teacher when I grew up. I remember 
how your brown eyes twinkled as you looked 
at my cropped head and bare brown feet 
and said: 

"But is it possible that my tomboy daugh- 
ter will ever sober down enough to be a 
dignified teacher?" 

Then I would run under the colt, jump on 
his back and slide off jvist to show you 
what I could do; or I'd scamper away to 



10 THE CORN LADY 

whisper my hopes and ambitions to the ht- 
tle mother who had taught me to love all 
growing things. Her eyes would look very 
gentle, as though they saw far into the fu- 
ture, as she said: 

"Yes, little daughter; if you try hard and 
study and work, you may sometime be a 
great teacher." 

"And can I be a great teacher and teach 
in the country f' 1 would ask. 

Her blue eyes, so clear and true, would 
search deeper than ever in my brown ones 
as she answered: 

"Yes, the greatest of teachers — and teach 
in the country — if you only have the eyes 
to see and understand your opportunity." 

Mother knew, didn't she? And in the 
days that are to come, I shall try to build 
so well that I can carry out what she said. 
I already see the great chance for service 
and, surely, the greatest teacher is the one 
who helps the most. 

I saw some goldenrod and purple asters 
as I came to school this morning and have 
had a bouquet of them on my desk all day. 
They have brought a flood of happy mem- 
ories of those days when I walked back and 
forth over countrv roads from Sunnvside 



THE CORN LADY 



11 



Farm to high school in town. J always 
felt sorry, when I came to the corner by our 
country school, that a person ever had to 
learn so much that she couldn't go to coun- 
try school any longer. I also remember the 
night when I was caught in a heavy rain 




A COUNTRY SCHOOLHOUSE 



and the sickness that came to me because of 
it. But it was fine when I began to get 
better. The doctor said I couldn't go back 
to school for a w^hole year and that I had 
better be out of doors a great deal. So you 
let me help you — and I even learned to milk 



1? THE CORN LADY 

cow si 1 raised ducks, too — dear little yel- 
low swimmers — and planted some corn! 
When I was tired of this, which I must con- 
fess was not very often, mother let me go 
into the attic and rip up all the old clothes 
and make them over for the children, or 
make bread and get supper all by myself. 

Weren't we so happy when the chance 
came for me to work my way through col- 
lege? For there were so many of us that 
you couldn't very well afford to send me. 
During all those years in college, I still 
was getting ready and wanting to be a coun- 
try school teacher. When my senior year 
came, though, the professors — and the fact 
that I could make more money to help the 
girlies through school — finally persuaded 
me to take a position in the high school. 

I liked that year in high school work. The 
boys and girls were so kind that I felt just 
like one of them. I was only twenty years 
old and I guess they thought I wasn't a very 
cross chaperone, for they always were want- 
ing me to go with them on their picnics. I 
liked it and yet, in the corner of my heart, 
I was hungry for the country. I think it 
was more than the corner that was hungry, 
but I was so busy that I crowded it into a 



THE CORN LADY 13 

corner and kept a smiling face. You un- 
derstand, Daddy, for you have just the 
same feehng for the country. I beheve I 
inherited it from you — this love for the open 
country and the soil and farm people. 
Thank you for the heritage. It is the best 
thing I have known. 

It was like Providence when Mr. Brown 
came in and told me that they wanted a 
good teacher for the Oak Grove School next 
year, and that they would pay me as much 
as I was getting in high school. Didn't I 
just jump at the chance? You should have 
seen the look on the face of Grace Berry — 
the brilliant sophisticated teacher of history 
in our high school — when I told her. She 
looked as though she would faint away as 
she exclaimed: "Going to teach a country 
school?" She is too polite to say what she 
thinks, but her face told me that she believes 
I am going backward in my profession, in- 
stead of progressing. Poor, ignorant spin- 
ster lady that she is; she has entirely failed 
to keep up with the times. Her mind is too 
shallow to hear the call of the country; to 
appreciate the great stretches of green fields ; 
to know the delicious odor of upturned sod 
and to understand the gladness, the peace 



14 THE CORN LADY 

and the satisfying fulness of it all. But, 
if she were half alive, she might realize how 
refined and splendid country homes are get- 
ting to be; that country people have all the 
modern conveniences and comforts without 
the gossip, unrest and envy of the town 
folks. 

In my district there are some very nice 
homes. One is as beautiful as any I have 
seen anywhere. Not so grand, perhaps, but 
homelike, with the lawn soft and velvety, 
roses climbing over everything and a big, 
inviting porch. Inside, there's a splendid 
library containing many good books and 
magazines, nice rugs, a ])athroom, and a cosy 
dining room where such wholesome things 
to eat are served. And the people that live 
here? They are good, unselfish, farseeing 
country people, well educated and interested 
in the Farmers' Institute, the State Agricul- 
tural College and everything that will help 
make country life all it can be. You ought 
to see the road in front of this house. It 
is a regular boulevard and the farmer told 
me it was made so simply by the use of the 
King road drag. Well, when I looked at 
it, I was sure of one thing — he was never too 
busy to drag it when it was needed. 



THE CORN LADY 



15 



Best news of all. It just makes me want 
to dance a jig. I am whistling a tune as 
I write this. I know I'm a teacher, but 
there's no one to hear but you — and you 






THE SCHOOL GARDEN 



don't mind for you've heard me before. I 
am going to get board there. It is about a 
mile from the schoolhouse but I don't mind 
that, for it will be the happiest place to stay 
and they will help me. 



^6 THE CORN LADY 

Not all the homes are like this. Some are 
farmed by renters, who look as though they 
were not caring very much and as though 
their corn would not go more than twenty 
bushels to the acre. There are, evidently, 
all kinds of people in this district. 

But, even the most run-down homes and 
farms compare favorably with the school- 
house and yard. The house needs paint- 
ing; the coal house has holes in it; the fence 
is falhng doAvn and it looks as though no 
one cared very much whether it kept step 
with the advance in country life or not. The 
schoolhouse is not clean inside, either. The 
director said he was soriy about this, but 
could find no one to do the work. 

Such a school it is, for thirty-one bright 
boys and girls. Just an ordinary country 
school, such as you were director of twenty- 
five years ago. Sometimes a better teacher 
would come for a term and try to improve 
conditions by making it an imitation of a city 
school. People do not need to look further 
than to just such a school as this, to know 
why the young people are leaving the farms 
and crowding our cities. 

I am going to try, in my country school, 
to teach the children in terms of countrv life. 



THE CORN LADY 17 

I want to make it of real service to the dis- 
trict — ^to the farms and the homes. I will 
write and tell you in the old "Honest Injun, 
cross my heart and hope to die" way just 
how I succeed. 

Love to mother and the girlies. If you 
see Tom, invite him up to supper and try to 
keep him from getting lonesome until he 
goes to college again. I am missing you all 
to-night, but I will write often and tell you 
all about your girl, wlio is very proud to 
sign herself, 

A Country Teacher. 



18 THE CORN LADY 



Wheat on y Iowa, October 4, 1910 

Dear D^vddy : — Well, the first month has 
gone and I surely do think that teaching 
country school is the best work in the world. 
The country is beautiful these early autumn 
days. The corn is tall and straight, with the 
ears hanging down as though they were quite 
weary of their own weight. I wish you were 
here. Shut your eyes and think of hills and 
hills and valleys cohered with rows of corn; 
with grain and alfalfa fields between and 
— here and there — pretty white houses and 
red barns. Daddy, doesn't the sight do your 
heart good? 

I have spent most of the time, when I 
could get my school work finished, in getting 
acquainted with the people. I have been to 
see them all and they were glad to have me 
come. There is one family that is very poor. 
They came here from the mountains of the 
South about a year ago. The father is not 
very well and he doesn't understand farming 
at all. It is a large family, the oldest an in- 



THE CORN LADY 19 

telligent, ambitious boy about fourteen years 
old. He cannot come to school this Fall, 
for it is necessary for him to stay home and 
help with the work ; but I am going to teach 
him during evenings and he is looking for- 
ward to the time when corn husking is fin- 
ished so that he can start in. 

You should know another of my boys 
whom I like. They tell me that last year 
the teacher had to use the stove poker on 
him and the director finally found it nec- 
essary to expel him for the good of the rest 
of the pupils. He is seventeen 3^ears old and 
has a dark, forbidding face. But, under- 
neath the mask that he wears to hide his real 
feelings, I can see strength and promise of 
a better manhood. I am finding a Avay to 
help him to waken up his good side and I'll 
tell you about it later. 

We had a school cleaning bee and all 
turned in and made the schoolhouse just 
shine. The boys carried water; the girls 
washed the windows and desks and blacked 
the stove — and I scrubbed the floor. We 
were all so proud of the house, when it was 
clean, that I didn't mind my aching muscles 
a bit. They all cleaned their feet the next 
morning without being told — and I even 



20 THE CORN LADY 

saw them rubbing out marks in their books. 
I sort of believe they have cleaner hearts for 
having a clean school home, too. 

Mr. Brown, my director, heard that the 
schoolhouse was clean and he came over to 
look at it. He was well pleased and said 
he liked the cover I had made for the chart, 
too, and the good way in which the children 
were behaving. Before he left, he said he 
thought that — since we had done the work 
of cleaning the schoolliouse — we should have 
the pay. So he gave us an order for three 
dollars, which was what they would have 
had to pay to get it done. We couldn't 
think what to get at first, but we finally de- 
cided to get a water jar, with a cover and a 
faucet, and each pupil said he would get 
a cup to use. So Daddy, you see we are 
getting very sanitary ; we have a clean, clean 
schoolhouse and individual drinking cups. 

We also decided there were some more 
things we needed. So we voted for a com- 
mittee of the big boys and girls to plan a 
pie and coffee social to raise some money. 
We had such a nice time and there was 
enough money as a result to buy material for 
some pretty sash curtains, and to put a set 
of supplementary readers in the school 



THE CORN LADY 



21 



library for my first, second, third and eighth 
grade classes. Mr. Brown is going to have 
the schoolhouse papered for us. We bought 
a beautiful copy of Sir Galahad, too, and 





' 






1 


ssnSBiHiHil 


'^^msmm 






^H 


1 




1 


1 


^^^^^^^HB i 1 ^^^^^^^^^^^1 



INDIVIDUAL DRINKING CUPS 



the boys made a frame for it. They love 
the picture of this knight of the pure heart. 
I think Edward, the dark-browed bov that 



22 THE CORN LADY 

1 told you about, likes it best ; but he doesn't 
say anything much about it. 

You should have heard the children dram- 
atize "Farmer John." You remember that 
old poem: 

FARMER JOHN 

Home from his journey Farmer John 
Arrived this morning safe and sound ; 
His black coat oli" and his old clothes on, 
"Now, Fm myself/' said P'armer John, 

And he thinks, "I'll look around." 
Up leaps the dog: "Get down, you pup! 
Are you so glad you would eat me up?" 
And the old cow lows at the gate to greet him, 
The horses prick up their ears to meet him. 

"Well, well, old Bay, 

Ha, ha, old Gray, 
Do you get good food Avhen I'm away?" 

"You haven't a rib," says Farmer John; 
"The cattle are looking round and sleek; 
The colt is going to be a roan, 
And a beauty, too ; how he has grown ! 

We'll ween the calf in a week." 
Says Farmer John, "When I've been off — 
To call you again about the trough. 
And watch you and pet you while you drink. 
Is a greater comfort than you can think;" 

And he pats old Bay, 

And he slaps old Gray, 
"Ah, this is the comfort of going away !" 



THE CORN LADY 23 

"For^ after all/' sa3's Farmer .John, 
"The best of a journey is getting home; 
I've seen great sights but I would not give 
This spot and the peaceful life I live 

P'or all their Paris and Rome; 
These hills for the city's stifled air 
And big hotels and bustle and glare; 
Lands all houses, and roads all stones 
That deafen your ears and batter your bones ! 

Would you, old Bay? 

Would you, old Gray? 
That's what one gets by going away." 

"There Money is king," says Farmer John, 
"And Fashion is queen, and it's very queer 
To see how sometimes when the man 
Is raking and scraping all he can. 

The wife spends, every year. 
Enough you would think for a score of wives 
To keep them in luxur^^ all their lives ! 
The town is a perfect Babylon 
To a quiet chap," said Farmer John. 

"You see, old Bay, 

You see, old Gray, 
I'm wiser than when I went away." 

''I've foimd this out," said Farmer John, 
"That happiness is not bought and sold, 
And clutched in a life of waste and hurry. 
In nights of pleasure and days of worry. 

And wealth isn't all in gold. 
Mortgages, stocks and ten per cent. 
But in simple ways and sweet content, 



24 THE CORN LADY 

Few wants, pure hopes and noble ends, 
Some land to till and a few good friends,, 

Like you, old Bay, 

And you, old Gray, 
That's what I've learned by going away." 

And a happy man is Farmer John — 
Oh, a rich and happy man is he ! 
He sees the peas and pumpkins growing, 
The corn in tassel, the buckwheat blowing, 

And fruit on vine and tree ; 
The large, kind oxen look their thanks 
As he rubs their foreheads and pats their flanks ; 
The doves light round him and strut and coo; 
Says Farmer John, "I'll take you, too; 

And you, old Bay, 

And you, old Gray, 
Next time I travel so far away." 

— Trowbridge. 

The whole school has a part in it and the 
front of the schoolroom is the barnyard. One 
of the big boys read the play and the rest 
acted their parts. One youngster delighted 
to be the dog and how he did jump and bark 
at the right place ! The little primaries were 
the doves. Two of the girls were "Old Bay" 
and "Old Gray." When my Tennessee boy 
was through reading it the other day, I said : 

"Do you like the farm best?" 

"Indeed, I do," he answered. 



THE CORN LADY 25 

My intermediate reading class likes the 
poem : 

THE BOY WITH THE HOE 

"Say, how do you hoe your row, young chap, 

Say, how do you hoe your row ? 
Do you hoe it fair. 
Do you hoe it square, 
Do you hoe it the best you know? 

Do you cut the weeds as you ought to do 

And leave what's worth while there ? 

The harvest you garner depends on you, 
Are you working it on the square?" 

"Are you killing the noxious w^eeds, young chap, 
Are you making it straight and clean? 

Are you going straight 

At a hustling gait. 

Do you scatter all that's mean? 
Do you laugh and sing and whistle shrill 
And dance a step or two ? 

The road you hoe leads u]) a hill ; 

The harvest is up to you." 

I have made some "Farm Charts" for my 
little people and I'll send you some pictures 
of them. Of course, one cannot do many 
things for children until she knows them, 
but I believe they are already learning to 
love the farm. There are so many little 
ways in which to interest the children in the 



26 



THE CORN LADY 



I VK "-'^^V^S*"-"*' , V\ l'«-f)(.- / i. 



see 




fotind 



ear 



corn 



good 



papa 



I found a g:ood ear of corn^ 
Papa tested and planted It. 
It had even rows. 
f like good corn and some An"^ 
I will f row it on my farm. 



A READING CHART 



THE CORN LADY 27 

country. I wish you could see all the dif- 
ferent products that they have brought for 
our "farm corner" — apples, corn, gourds, 
pumpkins and flowers. 

I have written to the Extension Depart- 
ment of the State College of Agriculture 
and, also, to the National Department of 
Agriculture for all the helps they have for 
teaching agriculture and home economics in 
country schools. Also, I have asked them 
for information in regard to the gravest 
problems of the farms and the homes in this 
part of our state. They have sent me some 
very helpful printed matter and have writ- 
ten letters showing their great interest. And, 
Daddy, you shoidd see me devour the farm 
paper I have subscribed for. I read it even 
before I do the Ladies' Home Journal and 
I am getting so many helpful things from 
it. 

We are planning to do so much this 
month. I will tell you about it in my next 
letter. Lovingly your 

Country Teacher. 



28 THE CORN LADY 



Wheaton^ Iowa, November 1, 1910 

Dear Daddy: — -We have just finished 
putting in our tuhp bulbs. The boys 
brought their spades and rakes from home 
and have been working before school and at 
recesses all week getting the ground ready. 
We put our bed up close to the schoolhouse, 
on the south side. Each of the youngsters 
has two bulbs that he calls his own and we 
planted them to-day, during the afternoon 
recess. Then, we covered the bed over with 
leaves and left it for the ^^'inter, knowing 
that througli the cold the roots would be 
reaching down and gathering strength for 
the burst of gold and crimson in the early 
spring. 

The county superintendent sent us our 
tulip bulbs. They were given b}^ a man who 
is interested in beautiful school grounds — ■ 
enough for every school — six thousand bulbs. 
The superintendent has a Babcock Milk 
Tester, too, which she sends out to the dif- 
ferent schools that wish to learn how to use 
it. She let us have it for two weeks last 



THE CORN LADY 



29 



month. 1 was very glad, indeed, as there are 
two men in the district who have quite a 
number of cows. 

The pupils brought sam]:)les of the milk 
from their cows at home and we tested it the 




PART OF THE TULIP BED 



first thing in the morning to find the per- 
centage of butter fat that it contained. We 
found some cows that tested as low as two 
and a half per cent, and others that tested 
as high at six and six tenths per cent. We 
had some problems from this and actually 



30 



THE CORN LADY 



found out that the cow that gave only two 
and a half per cent was not paying her 
board. The man who has the largest num- 
ber of cows came up and asked me if he 




OUR TULIP BED 



could use the tester after we ^^ere through 
Avith it at school. I told him I would ask 
the superintendent and she said he might; 
so he took it and tested his cows very care- 
fully with the help of his son, who had 



THE CORN LADY 31 

learned to do so at school. Pretty soon I 
heard that he had sold six of his cows and 
bought some splendid, high-testing Guern- 
seys to take their places in his herd. Isn't 
that good? He was just paying for the 
privilege of milking those scrubs, and the 
good cows will furnish a profit for buying 
more books and other things that his boys 
and girls need. 

October tenth was set by our State Col- 
lege of Agriculture as Seed Corn Picking- 
Day. I explained how important it was that 
farmers pick their seed corn early, before 
the first frosts can catch it and kill the germ 
so that it will not grow next Spring, and 
asked the pupils that day to each go out in 
the fields at home and pick for me the best 
ear of seed corn they could find and bring 
it to school the next morning. Then I asked 
one of the fathers, who was a good seed corn 
judge, to come and talk to the children on 
the good points of an ear of corn for seed. 
He came and gave a splendid, sensible talk, 
illustrating it with the ears of corn the chil- 
dren had brought. You should have seen 
their eyes shine — the children's — who found 
this information about real things most in- 
teresting; the man who was doing something 



32 THE CORN LADY 

for his school and, well, the teacher was 
happy enough for her eyes to shine, too. 

The next day, for language, we wrote an 
account of what Ave had learned about corn. 
I never had secured before such clear ex- 
pression; such good sentences, or correct 
punctuation, writing and such neat and 
thorough work. I had them take their work 
home when it was completed, and I heard 
many good words about it. Best of all, I 
saw that most of the farmers had picked 
their seed corn carefully from the strongest 
stalks in the field and hung it up; not wait- 
ing to throw out the best ears from the 
wagons after the freezing weather had killed 
much of it. 

In geography, we have drawn maps of 
all the farms, showing the fields and what 
had been planted in each for the past four 
years. In connection with this, we had some 
study of soils and considered the importance 
of crop rotations in keeping the soil fertile. 
One of the boys brought some alfalfa and we 
examined the little tubercles that draw the 
nitrogen into the soil from the air. Some 
of the fields in this district have been planted 
to corn for the last ten years, because corn 
is the "money crop" as they call it; yet the 



THE CORN LADY 



33 



farmers who do this seem to he making hut 
httle money. 

We have drawn maps of the township, in- 
dicating the amount of products along every 




LOOKING FOR SEED EARS 



line, as shown in the assessor's books at the 
county auditor's office. Then we drew the 
county, showing the banner townships for 
corn, oats, hay, wheat, alfalfa, apples and 



34 THE CORN LADY 

other f iTiit. And we did the same thing with 
the state, showing the banner counties. 

I wish you could come and see us. We 
are having the best school — and it's a coun- 
try school, too. I think in its strength — its 
open-heartedness — its wholesome spirit — 
and in the things we are learning, you would 
know that it belonged with broad fields and 
country freedom. 

I tell 3^ou it is great fun to ])e just 

A Country Teachek. 



THE CORN LADY 35 



Wheaton, Iowa, December 4y 1910 

Dearest D/VDDy: — There is so much to 
tell that I hardly know where to begin. But 
I think you'd like best to hear about our 
"Farm and Home Day." As it came along 
toward the end of November, the children 
were all wishing for a program. We talked 
it over and decided that we would have an 
exhibit of corn ; and of cooking and sewing. 
Each boy was to bring the best single ear of 
corn he could find and, also, the best ten 
ears. The girls were to bake a loaf of bread 
and some cookies. They were to make two 
buttonholes on gingham and a work apron. 
The one having the best in each class was to 
get a blue ribbon, and the next best a red 
ribbon. 

Then, too, we thought for our program 
we would have some good essays on prac- 
tical subjects such as: "How to Make Good 
Bread;" "The Benefit of Pure Air in Our 
Homes;" "The Selecting and Storing of 
Seed Corn;" "Crop Rotations to Keep the 
Soil Fertile;" "Why I Like to Live on the 



36 THE CORN LADY 

Farm" and "The Use of the Babcock Milk 
Tester." Each pupil selected what they 
were most interested in and looked up all 
they could in farm journals, bulletins and 
papers. They asked their fathers and neigh- 
bors for pointers, too. 

The little people learned some songs. 
"The Whistling Farmer Boy" was their mas- 
ter piece. Then they had a corn drill, 
dressed to look like ears of corn and the dear 
little girl, our school baby, held an ear of 
corn and played she was the "]M other Ear." 

Almost everyone came for the afternoon.. 
I had selected a committee of men and an- 
other of women, who had no children in 
school, to judge the exhibits ; and I had taken 
all the names off from the entries and num- 
bered them. After the ribbons had been put 
on, we had the program, and then we tolc: 
whose corn and sewing and cooking had 
won. 

How can I tell you how glad I was when 
I saw that the blue ribbon had gone on the 
single ear that my mountain boy had selected 
— and on the ten ears that the boy with the 
dark face and the dark past had brought. 
Max, the mountaineer, prizes that little blue 
ribbon more than anj^thing he ever had be- 



THE CORN LADY 37 

fore. I could see all the royal strength of 
his blue-blooded Scotch Calvinist ancestors 
in him, as he stood so straight after school 
and said: 

"Teacher, I wouldn't take ten dollars for 
tliis ribbon and this ear of corn." 

And Edward, the dark-faced boy, looked 
almost sunshiny as he asked: 

"NoM^, will we get to take our corn to the 
County Farmers' Institute?" 

"Surely we will, Edward," I answ^ered. 
"And you have all done so well that, per- 
haps, we can win the beautiful trophy for 
our school district." 

Florence had the best apron. I haven't 
told you about her. She is the oldest girl in 
a big family. Her father is the kind of man 
who is ahvays "agin things." They live off 
the road and seldom visit anyone. For years 
this man has made trouble in school. If one 
of his children — he has six in school — is rep- 
rimanded, he comes up and tells the "school 
ma'am" what he thinks of her for punish- 
ing his children when they haven't done a 
thing wrong. He thinks what was good 
enough for him is good enough for his 
"younguns." He regards school taxes as 
altogether too high and has been waiting for 



38 



THE CORN LADY 



Florence to grow big enough so she could 
work out. 

Well, Florence wanted to make an apron 
but her father w^ouldn't let her buy any 
cloth. He said he didn't believe in such 




THE boys' farm CLUB STUDYING CORN 



things having ruy place in school anyway. 
So I bought some pretty gingham and gave 
it to her, and showed her how to cut and 
make her apron. She had never had a 
thimble on her finger, but she worked so 



THE CORN LADY 39 

carefully and patiently. She would come as 
early as she could in order to sew before 
school commenced in the morning and, 
sometimes she would study so hard that she 
would get some extra time for her sewing. 
She was doing much better work in all her 
studies, too. 

She finished her apron a week before the 
entertainment, and took it home and washed 
and ironed it. It was just beautiful. Every 
stitch seemed perfect. I met her father the 
evening before our Farm and Home Day 
and urged him to be sure to come. I asked 
him if he had seen what a beautiful apron 
Florence had made. He scowled and 
growled out: 

"I don't take no stock in sich things. They 
don't have no place in school nohow." 

He w^as so big and so cross that the tears 
started in my eyes. I just tried to smile and 
hurried on home. 

The next forenoon, when the bkie ribbon 
had been put on Florence's apron, she came 
up to me and Avhen I leaned down, she put 
her arms around my neck and whispered : 

"Teacher, please may I go home and tell 
ma and pa about my apron?" 

"Certainly you may, and tell them to come 



40 THE CORN LADY 

this afternoon if they possibly can. Do not 
stay. Just go long enough to tell them." 
And away she flew down in the woods to 
the little gray house where the man lived 
"who didn't take no stock in sich things." 

Florence didn't come back alone; she 
brought her father along, who looked quite 
good-natured and her little bent mother, with 
her tired eyes and peevish baby. I took 
them over to the apron — the best of the 
fifteen aprons that were on exhibit — and 
said: 

"It is such a beautiful apron; every stitch 
is just perfect." 

"Yes, it is nice," the little mother said 
proudly. "But I never could get her to sew 
any at home. She wouldn't take any inter- 
est in it." 

"She's a prett}^ smart gal," the father 
added, "and I want you to jest take her as 
far as you can ; take her as far as you can." 
And all the little brothers and sisters, and 
the big brother stood around and looked 
proud, too. 

The little girl, Gladys, who made the best 
buttonholes, is an orphan. That is, her 
mother died last year and since then she has 
been trying to keep house for her father and 



THE CORN LADY 



41 



go to school. She is only twelve years old. 
When she was working on 
her buttonholes, she came to 
nie and said: 

"Mother told me once 
that grandmother could 
make buttonholes so well 
that you couldn't tell the 
right side from the wrong 
side. I am trying to learn 
to make them as well as she 
could." 

Bless her heart, I am sure 
if her mother knew what 
good buttonholes her 
daughter did make, she 
would be glad. I noticed, 
too, that her dresses which 
had been pinned up with 
buttons off, and her hair 
that was not always combed 
far neater; and the work at 
she had always seemed to 




CHAMPION 
BREAD MAKER 



well, 



became 
home, which 
dread, began to be less of a burden. 

The girl who had the best loaf of bread 
is the youngest in a family of eleven girls. 
They are all grown up and out of school 



42 



THE CORN LADY 



and she should, really, be in high school tliis 
year; but she is not very well and so had to 
stay at home another 
year. I do not claim 
the least credit for her 
good bread; her 
mother is a splendid 
cook and taught her 
how to make it, but the 
o^irl is certainly full of 
new hope and ambi- 
tions, since she gained 
this recognition. 

And the cooky girl 
is just a dear little 
roly-poly, healthy 
country girl from a 
good home. Her 
mother says she is very 
glad that she is getting 
interested, though. 
Her father, who is a 
prosperous, hard-head- 
ed farmer said: 

"It just seems 
mighty worth while to 
me to get the girls in- 
terested in home things. 




THE COOKY GIRL 

For what's the use 



THE CORN LADY 43 

of farmers raising better stock and more 
corn, except to have money to make better 
homes ? And how can we have better homes 
unless the girls are interested in and care for 
such things?" 

There were some good essays on the pro- 
gram. How we did laugh when one of the 
girls read the following in her essay on 
"Why I Like to Live on the Farm:" 

"I milk four cows every morning before 
breakfast. I like to live on the farm because 
I can sing and whistle as loud as I want to 
while I milk them, and I do not bother any- 
one. In fact, it seems the louder I sing, the 
more milk they give." 

We are going to take all our best work 
to the County Farmers' Institute next month 
and see if we cannot win the county school 
district trophy that is offered to the school 
district making the best display at the Boys' 
and Girls' Corn Show and Industrial Ex- 
position held then. The boys are going to 
compete for a place on the Boys' Corn 
Judging Team, which represents our county 
at a state contest, to be held at the State Col- 
lege of Agriculture in January. We are get- 
ting all the information we can, and the boys 
are studying nights on it. 



44 



THE CORN LADY 



I think I am going home for Christmas. 
We haven't had any vacation yet this year 
and I believe we will have two weeks then. 
Tom will be home from college, too; so you 
and the little mother can expect a merry 
time. 

The time is just flying along, and your 
girl is still a happy 

Country Teacher. 




HOMEWARD BOUND 



THE CORN LADY 45 



WheatoN, Iowa, December 20 1910 

Father Dear: — Our school did win the 
trophy for having the best work from our 
district at the Count}^ Farmers' Institute. 
When we heard it, we marched out and ran 
up our school flag. Everyone helped, for 
all the entries that mothers, fathers, big 
brothers and sisters and hired men made, 
counted; as well as those the school children 
made. 

A hired man from^ one of our farms 
showed the best corn in the hired men's class. 
I asked him where he learned to know good 
corn, and he said he had learned it reading 
out of those bulletins Jim brought home from 
school with him. 

We had a great many things in our ex- 
hibit: Aprons, cushion covers, buttonholes, 
hemming, bread, cookies, cakes, farm devices, 
model chicken houses, a model country 
schoolhouse and grounds, wheat, oats, pota- 
toes and corn. 

Florence's apron was the best in the 
county, and there were hundreds entered. 



46 THE CORN LADY 

Daddy, can you think how proud and happy 
her father is? He is fully converted and 
can't help enough, now. When they found 
that our district had won the trophy, the di- 




THE STATE TROPHY 



rectors gave us a day to attend the Institute. 
There was a splendid program, with speak- 
ers from the State College of Agriculture, 
who spoke on "Good Roads," "Crop Rota- 



THE CORN LADY 47 

tions," and "What They Can and Cannot 
Accomphsh." A lady from the State Col- 
lege spoke on "Modern Improvements for 
Country Homes." It was all very good. 

And the exhibit — of course, we expected 
it to be a grand exhibit ; but it surpassed our 
greatest expectations. When we saw the blue 
ribbon on Carl's potatoes that he had not 
planted until so late that we thought they 
would freeze; the blue ribbon, too, on Max's 
single ear with its beautiful straight rows — 
the best out of one hundred and twenty ears ; 
another prize ribbon floating with the flag 
on the flagstaff of our model country school- 
ground; the red ribbon on Floyd's handy 
farm knots and the honor given to Florence's 
apron that we were all so proud of, we were 
just sure it was the most marvelous exhibit 
we had ever even dreamed of. 

There was a corn house, where the bushels 
were exhibited from the boys who had tried 
in the acre yield contest. Standing near the 
corn house was the happy, little white-headed 
twelve year old Anton, who had succeeded 
in raising the largest number of bushels to 
the acre and would get a prize of fifty dol- 
lars from a bank interested in boys. Which 
fifty dollars Anton told me he was going to 



48 



THE CORN LADY 



put at interest in the bank to help buy a 
farm with some day. Anton Hves on the 
other side of the county, but we are all very 
proud of his record. 

By the cooking and sewing exhibits were 
many bright-faced girls, with their fathers 
and mothers usually near by. The cooking 




RAISING THE FLAG 



exhibit room, I noticed, was very popular 
with the men. I wonder why? Would you 
have made such a bee line for that if you 
could have been here? Tom says he is sure 
that he would, for he thinks cooking is one 
of the fine arts. I'll see if I cannot learn 
more about it. myself. I heard one little 



THE CORN LADY 



49 



girl say: "Next year 1 will bring man}^ 
more things," It makes them try so much 
harder when they see what other children can 
do. 

The trophy is beautiful and we are very 
thankful that we were able to win it. I will 
send you a picture of it. We have to win 
it three years in succession to keep it always. 
We will surelv trv to do this. 




PRIZE TEN EARS OF CORN 



I must not forget to tell you that ^lax, 
the mountaineer, won a place on the boys' 
corn judging team. He will have his ex- 
penses paid to the State College for a two 
weeks' short course, and while there he will 
compete for the state trophy on a team with 
two other country boys from our county. 
The trophy is awarded to the best boys' corn 



50 THE CORN LADY 

judging team in the state. He will start 
the day after Christmas. After school was 
out to-night, he came to me and tried to 
thank me for helping him. He has that fine, 
sensitive southern face and such quiet man- 
liness. 1 said: 

"The best way you can thank me, JNlax, 
is just by keeping on and trying your yery 
best to make use of every opportunity that 
comes to you." 

"I will try," he replied, quietly. 

I have a new name. Last week I attended 
my first box supper. The young ladies bring 
boxes trimmed so beautifully with, paper 
and artificial flowers and filled with good 
things to eat; and the young men bid them 
in. Of course, 1 took a box. I had some 
paper napkins with a design of ears of corn 
on them. I decorated my box with these, 
making a border all around it of the ears 
of corn cut out — and then I put a nice ear 
of corn on top, tied with ribbons. It was 
really pretty, and full of good things to eat. 

When the auctioneer put it up, I heard 
someone say : "Whose box is that ?" and tw^o 
or three answered at once: 

"Why, don't you know? It is the Corn 
Lady's." The Corn Lady's box brought a 



THE CORN LADY 



51 



good round sum and now everyone that 
knows me well is taking up the name and 
they say it in the nicest way, with a friendly 
look and a tone that seems to say, "We like 




SELECTING PRIZE-WINNERS 



you quite well. Miss Corn Lady. You are 
interested in the things we are interested 
in. You are one of us." 



52 



THE CORN LADY 



And Daddy, maybe it seems strange to 
you, but this girl of yours, because she likes 
the land and the people who raise the com, 
likes to be called 

The Corn Lady. 




TESTING CORN 



THE CORN LADY 53 



Ames, Iowa, January 6, 1911 

Dear Daddy: — Here I am at the State 
College of Agriculture for the short course. 
I wish I might have stayed at home longer, 
but it was so good to be there for Christmas, 
anyway; and you and mother were so splen- 
did to urge me to secure this work. 

It is a wonderful place up here, wdth its 
great buildings, fine equipment and intelli- 
gent teachers, to train students in the science 
of agriculture. Just now it is vacation time 
for the regular college students, and there 
are six hvmdred farmers with their wives, 
boys and girls taking the two weeks' short 
course. The men and boys have classes in 
corn and stock judging; lectures on soil and 
farm machinery; and many other subjects. 
The girls and women have lessons in cook- 
ing, sewing and home making. 

I am playing boy — like I used to — and 
taking the work in corn and stock judging. 
I had to live up to my name, you see. I am 
going to try for a corn judge's certificate at 
the end of the two weeks. Do you suppose 
I can get one? 

There are several hundred farmers in my 



54 



THE CORN LADY 



class, and seventy-five in my section. They 
are all very good to me and try to show me 
about the corn, and explain the different 
points to me. We are learning to use the 




LEARNING TO JUDGE HORSES 



corn- judging score-card and there are so 
many, many things to consider. The work 
is very practical, and the old gray-headed 
farmers seem to be just as keenly interested 
in it as the young men. 

This morning there was a farmer in the 
corn- judging room who came up and spoke 



THE CORN LADY 55 

to me before the class. At first 1 could not 
think who he was. He laughed and said: 

"Don't you remember me^ Many a time 
I have seen you walking over the hills to 
school in the country." Then I knew^ him. 
It was Fred Walker, the man whose father 
gave him such a big farm next to ours, and 
who always worked so hard. He told me 
that he had been coming up here for five 
years to the short course. He said he wished 
his father had given him a chance to go 
through the college. 

"It would have been nice," I said, "but he 
left you a farm, didn't he?" 

"Yes, he left me a farm; but he w^orked 
early and late and took me out of school to 
help work to save money to buy the farm. 
I'd rather have had a chance to get an 
education here than to have the farm. I 
tell you, my boy is going to have a chance, 
and so are all the other children down at our 
country school, I hope." And he said it with 
that hungry look that comes into men's eyes 
when they see a chance that they have lost 
forever. 

We are almost ready to start home and 
are taking the state boys' corn- judging 
trophy with us to our county. I took ex- 



56 



THE CORN LADY 



amination for the corn judge's certificate, 
but will not know for some time whether I 
passed or not. 

All these farmers and their sons will be 
going back to their farms to-da}^ with a new 
vision of what farming means — not only in 
greater profit — but in better standards of 
living. We cannot estimate the good that 
our College of Agriculture is doing, both in 
its regTilar work and in the message that the 
Extension Department is carrying to the peo- 
ple. If I go again next year, as I am hop- 
ing to do, I expect to take the work in home 
economics, but I am so glad that I took the 
corn and stock this time. 

Back to school again Monday, and I 
am anxious for ^Monday to come now. 

Your own 

Helen. 




THE CORN-JUDGING CONTEST 



THE CORN LADY 57 



Wheaton, Iowa, February 5, 1911 

Dear Daddy: — Well, we organized our 
regular class in agriculture as soon as school 
started after the holiday vacation. The big 
boys were all present and I thought they 
surely should have some definite work. We 
are taking up a text-book on agriculture and 
this, together with experiments and observa- 
tions in the neighborhood, talks by promi- 
nent farmers, and use of the farm bulletins, 
makes our work very interesting. The boys 
are keeping regular note-books for their work 
in agriculture. 

The girls have organized a Girls' Home 
Club and we meet each Friday afternoon 
for a half -hour after school. Some of the 
girls in the district who cannot attend school, 
come in for this, too. We are not trying to 
do any very complex work; but the simple, 
homely things that we are learning, we are 
learning to do well. We have taken up 
patching and darning; hemming and mak- 
ing buttonholes. We have thoroughly studied 
bread-making and the girls have all tried it 



58 THE CORN LADY 

at home. Butter-making, sweeping and 
dusting, and even dish-washing has had a 
share of our attention. The mothers have 
helped us in many ways. One httle girl said 
to me at the last club meeting: "Isn't it 
strange, there seems to be a right and a 
wrong way to do everything f 

I mentioned our using the "Farm Bul- 
letins" with our work in the agriculture class. 
The older pupils wrote to our State College 
of Agriculture and to the National Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, 
and secured a large assortment of them. 
Then Edward, who has come to be our right- 
hand man in school, made a rack for them 
out of strips of wood and fastened it to the 
wall. We sorted the bulletins according to 
subjects and filed them in the rack where 
thev can easilv be used for reference by the 

• • %■' 

class in agriculture, geography, reading and 
physiology. In all the classes from fifth 
grade up, we have been having these farm 
problems once a week. They bring in many 
of the problems from home. I enclose a 
page of the problems we have had this week, 
so you can see what they are like. 

One German father stopped me in the 
road the other day to tell me how glad he 



THE CORN LADY 59 

was that his boy was learning arithmetic 
down at the school that he could use. "Why," 
he said, "John used to come home at night 
and I would give him the scale tickets to fig- 
ure up and he couldn't do it — nor the cream 
checks, either. He said he could figure it 
out if it w^ere about oranges like it w^as in 
the arithmetic book, but he wasn't used to 
working problems with corn and cream in 
them. He used to say when he w^as trying 
to figure out his problems for to-morrow, 
*Pa, do you times this, or is it into?' He 
don't ask such silly questions now. You've 
taught him to really know^ what he is doing 
in arithmetic. I tell you w^hat, I am mighty 
thankful to you for it, too." 

John is a bright boy, all right, but it was 
necessary for him to learn to do some real 
thinking, and that is what he is doing now. 

So, if you w^ant some expert farm book- 
keeping done, just come down and call on 
some of my boys and girls. I think they 
would enjoy doing it for you, too. 

Lovingly your 

Country Girl. 



60 THE CORN LADY 



Wheaton, Iowa, March 2, 1911 

Dear Daddy: — I haven't told you about 
our literary society, have 1] We have been 
holding meetings every two weeks since the 
first of December. We meet on Friday even- 
ings and are organized in the regular, old- 
fashioned way. I am the secretary and a 
young farmer, who lives in the next district, 
is president. We have had some good meet- 
ings, with speeches, debates, readings and 
singing. ^lany of the people of the district, 
who were very much afflicted with stage- 
fright at first, are now so that they can hold 
their own before an audience in a dignified, 
efficient way. 

We have debated everything from con- 
solidated schools to parcels post and had 
talks and essays about "Alfalfa," "Good 
Roads," "Care and Feeding of Hogs," 
"How to Get Rid of the House Fly," "The 
Use of the Gasoline Engine on the Farm" 
and many, many other things. I am so glad 
we have had this literary society. It seems 
to me that country people need leaders: the 
ability to express themselves better: and 



THE CORX LADY 



6: 



these tlmigs we are gaining. Best of all is 
the social side; it is so good to get together 
and become better acquainted and away from 
the grind and monotony of ''all work and 
no play." 




CORN DAY IN IHE COUNTRY CHURCH 



Our country church, whicii is about three 
miles from here, has such a good pastor. He 
believes ui making the church really sen^e 
the people. He had all the people of the con- 
gTegation and their families come too^ether 
one evening at his home for a party. There 



m\ 



62 THE CORN LADY 

a Farmers' Progressive Club was suggested, 
and a committee appointed to make out the 
constitution. At a meeting held a week later, 
the Farmers' Progressive Club was organ- 
ized with about fifty members. They de- 
cided, as one feature of their Club, to ob- 
serve Corn Sunday and Monday at the 
church. On Saturday the people brought 
corn and other farm products to the church 
and arranged them beautifully. On Sun- 
day, the sermon was on the text : "Whatso- 
ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." 
It was a "corn" sermon and you would have 
been surprised and delighted, I know, if you 
could have heard it and all the ways the 
preacher found to bring into his sermon, 
practical, homely farm illustrations. 

On ^Monday afternoon your daughter, 
M'ho now has her state corn judge's cer- 
tificate, went over after school and judged 
the corn for them. I disliked to do it, for 
I felt as though I didn't know enough about 
corn from a practical standpoint, but I just 
thought I couldn't very well refuse when 
they asked my help. That evening we had 
a big meeting and talks by the men and 
boys who had the best corn. They sang their 
Club Song and were given a talk by the 



THE CORN LADY 63 

president of the Club. The next day they 
came and loaded up the farm products that 
were displayed and gave them to the 
preacher. Now, they are so interested that 
they are planning to have an expert come 
from the State College of Agriculture and 
hold another exhibit later on. 

The boys have built a work-bench in the 
basement and brought some tools from home, 
and we are having some manual training. 
We are working out a few useful farm de- 
vices, such as gates, milking stools, racks, in- 
dividual hog houses and so forth. We have 
found w^ork in rope-splicing and making 
halters even more useful and interesting for 
the children than basketry and mat-weav- 
ing, and it has the same value in training 
their hands. I will send you some pictures 
of our rope work. The boys and girls have 
also learned how to make rope halters for 
calves and colts. 

It has been very cold and snowy, so we 
have used some of our noon hour for hand 
work. The girls have finished the sash cur- 
tains for the windows. They hem-stitched 
them and each girl pinned her name on her 
own curtains. We have our new wall paper 
and some new books for our librarv. We 



64 THE CORN LADY 

scrubbed the sehoolhouse several times, and 
every Friday night I try to give it an extra 
good cleaning. So we are just as homelike 
and cozy as can be in our school room dur- 
ing these cold winter daj^s. The}^ are almost 
over now, though, and I am almost sorry, 
for what if the big boys should have to drop 
out of school soon to help with the spring 
^^'ork ? 

I was so glad to know from your last 
letter that you and mother liked the way I 
was working. I do want so much to really 
do something for these country children. 
Sometimes it seems to me as though I had 
done very little when I think liow much there 
is that sJioidd be done. 

Lovingly, your 

CouxTRY Teacher. 



THE CORN LADY 6S 



Wheaton, Iowa, April 3 ^ 1911 

Daddy Dear: — The men are busy in the 
fields now, but the boys have all stayed in 
school. I cannot tell you how glad I am. 
Edward's father said to me: 

"Well, I just couldn't think of taking Ed- 
ward out of school this year, until it was out, 
for he is so interested and learning so much. 
And he is learning things he can use, too." 

Everyone of my pupils has enrolled in 
the State Junior Boys' and Girls' Club, or- 
ganized and planned for by our Extension 
Department. The girls will take the work 
in cooking, sewing and home management, 
so they will be busy on this work all sum- 
mer, whenever they have time. The boys 
will be learning to "put their head into the 
game of farming" by taking the courses in 
the acre yield contests and the individual ear- 
test. The boy in the state who has the larg- 
est number of busliels of corn on his acre, 
with the least expense, is to have a trip to 
Washington, D. C., next fall, and his mother 
may go, too. How^ we all wish that this 



66 THE CORN LADY 

might be one of our boys and his mother! 
The boys have been reading the accounts of 
what the boys of the South have done in 
raising corn. There was one boy in South 
Carolina who raised two hundred and twen- 
ty-eight and three-fourths bushels of corn 
on one acre. How is that for a record? 

We have been doing some special lan- 
guage work that I am proud of. Each pupil 
selected some farm or liome subject that in- 
terested him, and wrote an illustrated com- 
position on it. Those who could, drew their 
illustrations; others cut them from farm 
journals and bulletins. Some clinched their 
points with clippings from magazines and 
papers. We expect to send these booklets 
to the county fair. 

We have cleaned and raked our yard and 
are getting the ground back from the road 
and the playground, ready for our school 
garden. We are putting out a number of 
vines and some seed that our Congressman 
was kind enough to send us. We think our 
radishes and lettuce will be ready to eat with 
our lunches before school is out. We are 
going to start a little experimental plot for 
alfalfa, too. 

The girls in the Home Club served lunch 



THE CORN LADY 



67 



to us the other day. We brought from home 
the different things needed ; put our primary 
table in front and set it carefully. Each fam- 
ily had been told what to bring that day and 




HIS OWN TULIP 



the girls made chocolate on the stove, too; 
then they served the dinner We had studied 
at our meeting just before this, how to serve, 
and they were carrying their teaching into 
practice. After it was over, Sam came up 
and said: 



68 THE CORN LADY 

"Wish you'd let us do that sometime and 
serve the girls." 

I only wish you, mother and the rest might 
have heen here, for you surely would have en- 
joyed the spread that my girls gave. 

We have been testing seed corn the past 
week. Each pupil already had the ears of 
corn at school that they had picked on Seed 
Corn Picking Day. We had hung these up 
and kept them. Then each of the pupils 
brought two more ears. So altogether we 
had quite a lot of corn to test. One of the 
boys brought a box and two of them went 
about a mile throvigh the snow to get some 
fresh saw-dust. We wet the saw-dust thor- 
oughly, then covered it with a strong muslin 
cloth on which we had marked out and num- 
bered squares for each ear. The boys num- 
bered tlie ears and arranged them in rows of 
ten each on the floor. Tlien each pupil put 
in six grains from each of his ears of corn. 
These six grains were taken from different 
parts of the ear. We took another cloth and 
placed it over the corn and on this we put 
some more saw-dust. In about five days the 
corn had sprouted. Almost every ear that 
had been picked early sprouted perfectly, 
every grain growing, but some of the other 



THE CORN LADY 



69 



ears did not otovv at all, and some were weak. 
The boys say they will never plant any corn 
that does not test one hundred per cent 




TESTING CORN 



strong, for it doesn't take any more work to 
tend a perfect stand of corn than a poor one 
and there are much greater results from it. 

Lovingly, 

Helen. 



70 THE CORN LADY 



Wheaton, Iowa, May 5, 1911 

Dear Daddy Mine: — Our tulips have 
blossomed and they are just glorious. Every- 
one who passes, stops to look at their gold 
and crimson beauty. But the children love 
them best of all. The first morning that 
they blossomed we were all out around the 
bed before time for school. Each one 
claimed his or her own blossoms and really 
thought they were the prettiest ones in the 
bed. 

And Charles — my rougli, motherless boy 
— who used to swear so at the beginning of 
the year, loves them so. He is the boy who, 
when I talked with him about swearing said : 
"Teacher, I don't want to swear. I'd want 
you to lick me for it, if I thought it would 
do any good; but it wouldn't. When I git 
to playing ball and something goes wrong, 
I just forget." Charles was down on his 
knees that morning by the bed, touching two 
great red blossoms with boyish eagerness 
and saying, "Aw, you don't need to think 
yours are the prettiest. Mine's the most 



THE CORN LADY 



71 



reddest of all." And there was no one who 
could gainsay him. 

He had thrown his torn st^a^v hat down 
beside him, and I shall never forget how he 
looked with the morning sun catching the 




THE GIRl.S TULIPS 



bright lights in his tousled hair, his fair boy- 
ish face — strong and fearless, his caressing 
touch on the crimson flowers and, finally, the 
look of reverence Aviiich stole into his eyes, 
which told of a new-born love for the beau- 



72 THE CORN LADY 

til'iil that had found r()()iii in his heart. No, 
of course, he has not sworn since. There's 
no room for roughness and oaths in the heart 
of a boy who has learned the lesson he did 
that morning'. 

A rabbit came one night and ate oiF some 
of the tulij^s. Such mourning as there was 
in camp the next morning. I am glad they 
enjoy the flowers so much. We must have 
even more next year. And I ho])e we can 
have some hyacinths and crocuses, too. 

The eighth grade class all did creditable 
v\'ork in the examinations. JNIy mountaineer 
was about ready to give up on grammar. 
He found it so hard am] did not think he 
could get it. But I said, "Do you mean 
to tell me, INIax, that a boy who knows as 
much about corn as vou do, will let oram- 
mar get the best of him?" Then he buckled 
down. We had the strongest class in the 
county, the superintendent said. The}^ were 
alive and interested, and liad done their best, 
I knew that. 

AVe made a collection of different kinds 
of weed seeds last Fall and this Spring, 
when the farmers were buying their seed, 
we examined samples of it to see if we could 
identifv anv weed seeds in it. We found 



THE CORN LADY 



73 



one siiinplc of red clover-seed that had 
enough Cana(han thistle m it to ruin the 
man's field. He had bought the seed of a 
seedsman in whom he had confidence and 




THE MAY BASKET 



had not examined it. I am veiy glad that 
it wasn't sowed. 

I wish you might have a look at my beau- 
tiful May Basket. It was such a surprise. 
The girls made it of raffia and filled it with 
violets — hundreds and hundreds of them — a 
solid mass of purple and some green violet 



74 



THE CORN LADY 



leaves around the edge. It is surely the 
prettiest INIay Basket I have evel* seen. 

Spring is here. Everjiihing is waking up 
and it makes me so happy to be in the coun- 
try where I can enjoy it. 

Lovingly, your 

Country Teacher. 




father's wheat field 



THE CORN LADY 75 



Wheaton, Iowa, June J, 1911 

My Deae Daddy: — My heart is so full 
that I can only tell you to-night of our last 
day. We had been busy in school right up 
to the last and thought we would not plan 
for a big program, but that we would just 
have a quiet little picnic by ourselves. We 
haven't talked much about it, either, for we 
have all been sort of dreading this last day. 

I told the boys and girls that we would go 
down to the woods the day before the last 
day and eat our dinner together, and tell 
stories and have a good time. James asked 
me what woods and I said: "Well, I sup- 
pose the North woods will be the best." That 
was all, but the next forenoon I surely 
thought there was something the children 
knew and were not telling me. Noon came, 
however, and nothing happened, so we took 
our dinner pails and started to walk to the 
North woods, but before we had reached 
there I began to see buggies among the trees 
and table-cloths spread on the ground, and 
I knew all the people who were there — the 



76 THE CORN LADY 

people of our district — Daddy, every one 
of them. They had come to sm;prise me and 
tell me good-by. 

Such a dinner as we had^ — fried chicken, 
cake and ice cream and when we were just 
finishing, a splendid woman — one of my 
nicest and most helpful mothers — arose and 
made the kindest speech. She said they ap- 
preciated all I had done for the children; 
how interested I had been in them in every 
way; that I had not only helped tliem but 
that I had made the whole neighborhood a 
pleasanter and a better place to live in. She 
said that all my friends wanted to give some 
expression to their gratitude, which I could 
take with me and have all my life. Then 
slie presented me with a gold watch and 
chain from all the people and children of the 
district. It was all unexpected, for they 
hadn't even spoken of it over the telephone 
for fear I would hear them. Something 
caught hold of my throat and I thought I 
just couldn't say anything, but I did manage 
to say a few words. What they were, I 
could not tell you now. But all had tears in 
our eyes until Mr. McCormick, with his 
jolly good nature, began to joke and tease 
me and then we felt a little more natural. 



THE CORN LADY 77 

Of course, I am coming back next Fall 
at better wages and will have some new 
equipment to work with in the school. I 
think we could have a new schoolhouse but, 
we have talked a good deal about consolida- 
tion and are waiting to see if that is decided 
on before we invest in a new schoolhouse. 

They are just the best people in the world, 
I know. And the boys and girls — well, I 
can't write about them to-night for already 
I am missing them so. It has been a won- 
derful year. It has helped and developed me 
in many ways and I have been so glad to 
have had the opportunity to try to re-direct 
a country school so that it would fit country 
life. There is such an awakening along this 
line tliroughout the United States that all 
of us who are trying know that we are 
doing our part in a great national move- 
ment. And I have had the part I like best, 
because it is nearest to the real work. I 
would rather work it out in this one district 
school, than to be on the president's Farm 
Life Commission. It is easy to see that 
something must be done, and to give advice, 
but to really meet actual conditions and 
work them out, that is a task well worth any- 
one's time and strength and mind. We have 



78 THE CORN LADY 

found that we could do some things this 
year and next year we hope to do much more. 

And I, for one, would rather be a coun- 
try teacher than do anything else. Of 
course, Tom thinks when he is through with 
that post-graduate course in agronomy and 
animal husbandry and gets on to his farm, 
that some day he can persuade me that there 
is 07ie thing better than being a country 
teacher, even. Do vou suppose lie can. 
Daddy? 

I'll be home soon and how glad 1 am. It 
is hard to leave here, but the weeks at home 
and the summer work at Normal School will 
be just what I require. 

Until I see you. 

Lovingly, your 

Helen. 



THE CORN LADY 



SUPPLEMENT 
FARM ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS 



Reckoning Farm Crops 

The ordinary rule i'or figuring ear corn in the 
crib is to count two bushels to each five cubic feet. 
Multiply together the length, width, and depth of the 
crib in feet and take two-fifths of it, which will give 
you the number of bushels. 

1. A crib of corn is 10 feet wide, 32 feet long, 
and has an average of 10 feet of corn in it. How 
many bushels? 

2. A crib of corn lU feet wide is made up of 
three 16-foot sections. Two of these sections are full 
to the top, 10 feet high throughout. The third 16- 
foot section is 8 feet high with corn at one end slop- 
ing off to 4 feet* at the other end. How much corn 
in each of the full sections, and how much in this 
last one partly full? How much corn in crib alto- 
sfether ? 



*Take average height (8 feet plus 4 feet divided by 
equals 6 feet). 

79 



80 THE CORN LADY 

3. Measure a crib of corn at home and figure out 
the number of bushels it contains. 

4. A round slat pen of corn is 20 feet across and 
2 sections, or 8 feet, high. How much corn does it 
contain ? 

5. A rick of ear corn piled out doors is 10 feet 
wide at the bottom, tapering to a point in the middle 
6 feet high. It is 50 feet long. How many bushels 
in it? 

6. A round pile of corn on the ground is 20 feet 
across, tapering to a point 10 feet high in the middle. 
How man}^ bushels does it contain? 

In estimating bushels of shelled corn or small grain 
in the bin, take four-fifths of the number of cubic 
feet. 

7. How many busliels of oats in a bin 10 feet 
wide, 40 feet long and 8 feet deep? 

8. How many bushels of shelled corn in a wagon 
bed 3 feet wide, 10 feet long, and 27 inches deep? 

9. The common practice in estimating ear corn 
from the field is to count one bushel for every inch 
in depth of an ordinary wagon bed 3 feet wide and 
10 feet long. How does this agree with the rule pro- 
viding for 2 bushels for 5 feet ? 

As potatoes and apples are always sold by heaped 
measure, the rule for estimating them is 3 ])ushe]s to 
each 4 cubic feet, or a slightly larger bushel than 
small grain or shelled corn, which is always sold by 
level measure. 



FAKM AKITHMETIC PE0BLEM8 81 

10. An ordinary freight car is 8 feet wide by 32 
feet long, and is generally filled about -1 feet deep. 
How many bushels of apples would this be? 

An acre of land is 160 square rods. To find the 
number of acres in any field, multiply together the 
length and the width in rods and divide by 160. 

11. An 80-acre field has a strip 2 rods wide and 
160 rods long taken off for road. Besides, there is a 
pasture 10 rods wide by 25 rods long, and the house, 
orchard and feed lots take a strip 20 rods wide by 30 
rods long. If all the rest of the 80 acres is planted 
in corn-, how many acres of corn will there be? 

12. If the corn in this field fills 3 16-foot sections 
of crib 10 feet deep and 12 feet wide, how many 
bushels of corn is that per acre? 

13. How many acres in a j^iece of land 12 rods 
wide and 80 rods long? 

11. If tliis land is sold at $100 per acre, wliat 
will it bring? 

15. If a mistake of 3 feet is made in measuring 
tlie width of the piece, how much difference would it 
iiiake in the price received for tlie land? 

16. A piece of land 80 rods long is 50 rods wide 
at one end and 30 rods wide at the other end. How 
many acres does it contain? 

17. If tliis land is planted in oats and the crop 
fills a bin 10 feet wide, 12 feet long and 12 feet deep, 
what is t]ie yield per acre? 

18. \Yhen corn is planted in rows 3 feet 8 inches 



82 THE COEN LADY 

apart, the custom is to count 9 rows to an acre in a 
field a quarter of a mile long. Is this rule correct? 
19. In husking corn in a field where the rows are 
80 rods long, 4 rows make a 30-bushel load. What 
is the yield per acre? 

Threshing and Harvesting Problems 

1. If a field of oats is half a mile long and 40 
rods wide, how much should be paid for cutting it at 
75 cents per acre? 

2. If the man who cuts it gets it done in 4 days, 
how much is he making per day ? 

3. Find the amount of this threshing bill : 
1,200 bushels of oats at 2 cents per bushel. 

860 bushels of wheat at 4 cents per bushel. 
2,600 pounds of coal at $4 per ton. 
4 men and teams at $3 per day, for a day and a half. 
6 men at $1.75 per da}^, for a day and a half. 

4. The field in which this 1,200 bushels of oats 
were grown is 120 rods long and 50 rods wide. What 
was the yield per acre? 

5. The wheat field was 86 rods long and 80 rods 
wide. What was the yield per acre ? 

6. Counting the cost of cutting at 75 cents per 
acre, and the shocking at 25 cents per acre, wliat ha? 
been the total cost of harvesting and tliresliing? 
What does tliis amount to in expense per bushel? 

7. If a self-binder receives proper care, it will last 
12 years. It is run each year on an average of 5 days 



FAEM ARITHMETIC PEOBLEMS 83 

of 10 hours each, (a) If the binder cost $120 and 
simple interest on the investment is allowed at 6 per 
cent, what is the cost of one hour's work of the 
binder? (b) If by carelessness in handling and the 
leaving out of doors when not in use, the life of the 
binder is reduced from 12 years to 4 years (4 years is 
tlie average life of the binder), what is the cost per 
hour of its use ? 

8. A crib of corn is weighed in, in November, as 
67,200 pounds. How many bushels would this be? 

9. How many feet deej) would it fill a crib 10 feet 
wide and 32 feet long? 

10. Allowing that the shrinkage on ear corn is 3 
per cent a month of the original amount for six 
months from November on, what would this crib of 
corn weigh out next June? 

11. If the corn can be sold at gathering time for 
50 cents a bushel, would it pay better to sell it then 
or hold it till next June and sell it for 60 cents, 
allowing 3 per cent slirink a month for 6 months ? 

12. A quarter-section farm is divided up as fol- 
lows : Corn land, 80 acres ; oats, 20 acres ; hay land, 
30 acres; pasture, 20 acres; orchard, 5 acres; waste 
land, lots, baiidings, etc., 5 acres. Draw a sketch of 
tliis farm as you would lay it out. 

13. The corn grown fdled 4 16-foot sections of 
crib 12 feet wide and 10 feet deep. The oats fdled a 
bin 10 feet wide, 12 feet long, and 11 feet deep. The 
hay filled a mow 30 feet wide, 100 feet long, and 15 



84 THE COEX LADY 

feet high. The apples filled a bin 10 feet wide, 12 
feet long and 7 feet deep. Figuring the crops at the 
present local prices and allowing a fair rent for the 
pasture land, what was the income from the farm for 
the season ? 

li. If corn is checked 3 feet 8 inches apart each 
way, how many rows to the acre? 

15. With 3 stalks to the hill, how many stalks to 
the acre? 

16. If it takes 100 ears to make a bushel, how 
many bushels to the acre would you have, with one 
good ear from each stalk? 

17. Which is the best crop, 5 stalks to the hill 
with small ears requiring 200 to make a Inishel, or 3 
stalks to the liill bearing good ears requiring 100 to 
make a bushel ? 

18. If a field of corn is good enough to make 70 
Imshels per acre, l)ut the squirrels take out 100 hills 
to the acre, in a 10-acre piece, how many bushels will 
be lost from the crop? 

Cost of Growing Farm Crops 

In estimating the cost of growing crops in the 
following problems, count the time of a man and a 
team at $3 per day, or man alone at $1.50 per day. 

1. A field is 80 rods long and 60 rods wide. Hov/ 
many acres ? 

2. How many days will it take to plow it, allov/- 



FAEM AETTHMETIC PEOBLEMS 85 

iiig 2^2 ii<-'res a day as fair v.urk lor man and learn ? 
AVhat would be the cost? 

<■]. If a man and team can liarrow 15 acres a day, 
how long will it take to harrow it twice? What will 
he the cost? 

4. If a man and team can plant 15 acres a day, 
how long will it take and what will it cost? 

5. If a man and team can cultivate 7^/4 acres a 
day, how many days will it take to cultivate it 1 
t imes, and what will it cost ? 

(j. If this field of corn makes 2,000 bushels, what 
is the yield per acre ? What will it cost per acre to 
husk it at 3 cents per busliel ? 

7. What is the total cost of the field of corn in the 
way of labor? How much per acre? Allowing rent 
at $5 per acre, what is the total cost per acre? 

8. What would this field of corn bring at present 
prices ? How much per acre ? 

9. AVhat would ])e the net return per acre after 
deducting all cost in the way of labor and rent ? 
Have any items of expense been omitted? If so, 
figure them in. 

10. What would be the cost per acre of growing 
wheat, allowing for plowing at 3 acres per day, 2 
harrowings at 15 acres per day, seeding at 15 acres 
per day, 6 pecks of seed at $1.00 per bushel, cutting 
at 75 cents per acre, shocking at 4 acres a day to each 
man, and a threshing expense of 7 cents per bushel 
CD a yield of 24 bushels per acre. 



8(j THE COEX LADY 

11. Wliiit would be tlio net ivtiirii on 30 acres on 
a crop of 24 bushels of wheat per acre, after paying 
all the above expenses and selling the wheat at 90 
cents per bushel and paying $5 per acre rent? 

Comparison of Different Crops — Rotation of 

Crops 

1. Suppose a 40-acre field planted to corn for 5 
years in succession produces 60 bushels per acre the 
first year, 55 the second, 43 the third, 33 the fourth, 
and 30 the fifth, what will be the value of the corn 
grown in the 5 years, at 40 cents per bushel? 

2. Suppose instead of growing corn continuously 
he had practiced the following rotation : 

First year — 40 acres corn, 60 bushels per acre, at 
40 cents. Second year — 40 acres oats, 60 bushels per 
acre, at 30 cents. T'urd year — 40 acres clover, 3 tons 
per acre, at $8 per ton. Fourtli year — 40 acres tim- 
othy, 2 tons per acre, at $9 per ton. Fifth year — 40 
acres corn, 70 bushels per acre, at 40 cents per bushel. 

"What would have been the value of the five years' 
crop? 

3. AYIiich of the two plans would produce the most 
money in the five years ? How much more ? Which 
would leave the land in the best condition at the end 
of five 3^ears? Are there any other advantages to 
either plan ? 

4. The average good stand of corn is about 12,000 



FARM AEITHMETIC PROBLEMS 87 

stalks per acre. If by careful selection of seed corn 
each stalk can be made to bear an average of one 
ounce more of corn, what will be the increase in 
yield per acre? What will be the increase in cash 
return on 70 acres, if the corn is 40 cents per bushel ? 

5. Eight pounds of seed corn will plant an acre. 
How many bushels would it take to plant 70 acres? 

6. If a man put in a day on the selection of each 
bushel of corn, what would be the cost of selecting 
seed for 70 acres, counting his time at $2 per day? 
How much per acre ? 

7. If by such selection he can increase the yield of 
his corn 5 bushels per acre, and corn is worth 40 cents 
per bushel, what will be the increase in value on 70 
acres of corn ? How much per acre ? 



Dairy Problems 

In working out these problems, have the pupils get 
prices on feed by inquiring of the local dealers. It 
might be well, too, to keep the market quotations on 
feed and farm crops posted on the blackboard and 
changed weekly. If possible demonstrate the use of 
the Babcock milk tester. Have pupils actually test 
milk. A Babcock tester can be secured complete for 

$5.00. 

1. A good ration for a dairy cow is 10 bushels of 
corn and 10 bushels of oats ground together, and one 



88 THE CORN LADY 

ton of clover liav. Tin., amount should feed a cow for 
75 days. At present prices, what will be the cost of 
supplying this ration for 235 days and pasturing the 
cow the balance of the year at $1.50 per month? 

2. Allowing that the labor cost is 50 cents per 
week per cow, what is the total cost of the cow's keep 
for a year? "What is the cost per month? Per week? 

3. If butter fat is worth 25 cents per pound, how 
many pounds must each cow produce per year to 
balance the expense of her keep? How much per 
month ? Per week ? 

4. A cow gives 3i/> gallons of milk per day 
(weight 8% pounds per gallon). If the milk tests 
4.8 per cent, how much butter fat does she yield per 
week? Per month? 

5. If the milk tests 2.8 butter fat, what is the 
3' ield per week ? Per month? 

6. Of two cows, one gives 3 gallons of milk per 
day, testing 2.8 per cent butter fat, the other gives 2 
gallons per day, testing 4.8 per cent butter fat. Which 
cow is the most profitable ? How much more per 
month ? 

7. Allowing that the labor cost is about the same 
under each method, which would pay best, to sell milk 
at 5 cents per quart or butter fat at 25 cents per 
pound, if the milk tests 4 per cent ? 

8. If you allow that after taking out the butter 
fat the sweet skim milk is worth 5 cents a gallon to 
feed to pigs, which plan will pay best? 



FARM AKITHMETTC PROBLEMS 



80 



May 


June 


July 


Aug. 


Sept. 


Oct, 


Nov. 


Dec. 


Jan. 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs, 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


750 


754 


730 


670 


6iJ0 


680 


650 


640 


520 


test ',; 


test 7b 


test % 


test 1o 


test 1c 


lest 7 


test 7 


test 'I 


test % 


4.4 


4.4 


4.2 


4 


4.2 


4.2 


4 


3.8 


3.6 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
milk 


lbs. 
uiilk 


lbs. 
milk 


780 


775 


750 


700 


670 


670 


650 


630 


600 


test 7c 


test '( 


test 7<j 


test « 


test 7 


test 7 


test 7 


test 7o 


test % 


3.2 


6.2 


3 


3 


3 


3.2 


3 


2.8 


2.8 



Feb. 

lbs. 
milk 

450 

test % 

3.6 

lbs, 
milk 

500 

test 7 

2.8 



9. Find the yield of milk and the yield of butter 
fat for the year from each of these cows. 

10. If the average value of butter fat for the year 
is 24 cents per pound, \yhat is the money return from 
each cow? 

11. If the cost of keeping each cow for the year 
is $32.50, what is the net profit from each? 

12. If feed is high and the cost of keeping each 
cow is $43.00 per year, what is the net profit froni 
each ? 

13. Figuring the ration given in problem No. 1 
at present prices for feed, 225 days on dry feed and 
the balance of tlie year pasture at $1.50 per month 
and not making allowance for labor, what would be 
tlie profit from each cow? 



90 THE COPtX LADY 

Poultry 

1. A flock of 100 hens average 85 eggs a year 
each. If the average price of eggs for the year is 16 
cents per dozen, what is the value of these eggs'? 

2. Suppose it takes 12 bushels of corn at 45 cents, 
5 bushels of oats at 25 cents, and $7 worth of other 
feed, to keep this flock for one 3'ear, what is the profit 
over and above the cost of the feed ? 

3. Some flocks of hens have a record of as high as 
200 eggs each in a year. What would be the cash 
return from this flock of 100 hens if they did as well ? 
What would be the net return over the cost of feed? 

4. At present local prices, what would be the 
amount received for 34 hens weighing 7% pounds 
each? How much would this be for each hen? 

5. At present local prices, wliat would be received 
for 34 hens weighing 4% pounds each, if the dealer 
docked them 1 cent per pound from the regular prices 
because they were small and tliin ? 

6. Have the pupils get figures on actual sales of 
poultry and figure the returns. Have each pupil bring 
several such records, if possible. 

Birds, Weeds and Insects, and Their Relation to 
Field Crops 

1. How many acres in a section? How many sec- 
tions in a township? How many townships in your 
county? How many acres in the county? 



FARM ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS 91 

^2. The' daiiui^i' done hy liisocis in Jowa averages 
58 cents per acre. What would this amount to for 
your county ? For the farm you live on ? 

3. Wild birds average about 450 to the quarter 
section. How many would this be for the county? 
For your farm ? 

4. Allowing that each bird eats 50 insects per day 
(a low estimate), how manv insects would the birds 
of the county destroy in the five summer months ? 
How many on your farm ? 

5. Estimating 100,000 insects to the bushel, how 
many bushels would this be? How many bushels per 
day ? 

6. The birds that stay all winter eat principally 
weed seed. Allowing one ])ird to the acre and i/4 
ounce of weed seed per day for each bird, how many 
tons of weed seed would the 1)irds eat in three months 
in the whole county? How many pounds on your 
farm ? 

7. One plant of plantain bears about 14,000 seeds, 
weighing about one ounce. Forty of these seeds will 
easily seed a square yard of ground. Suppose all the 
seeds were allowed to live, how many square yards 
of ground would one plant seed? What harm do 
plantain and such weeds do ? How can we keep them 
from spreading and crowding out the crops? 

8. Five hundred small grasshoppers will eat a 
pound of growing crops in a day. Almost all birds 
are fond of grasshoppers for food. A cuckoo or a 



93 



THE COEX Lz\DY 



meadow lark will eat 250 a day. How many birds 
will it take at this rate to save a ton of small grain or 
grass in ten days? 

9. As destroyers of potato beetles and other harm- 
ful insects, a single pair of quails is said to be worth 
$5. If this pair produces a brood of 16 young quails, 
what is the value of the work done by the entire covey 
next year ? 

Scale Tickets 

1. A farmer sold 6 loads of ear corn (70 pounds 
to the bushel) at 51 cents per bushel. Fill out the 
scale ticket, and lind how much money he should get 
for each load and how much for the total. 



Gross 


Weight 


Net 


Net 


Amount 


weight 


wagon 


weight 


weight 


at 51c. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


lbs. 


bushels 


$ 


3480 


1310 








3405 


1280 








3200 


1190 








3394 


1285 








3382 


1220 








3476 


1276 









Totals 



Note that this kind of work is easily proved. The 
total of the net weights of the different loads should 
equal the difference between tlie total of the gross 
weights less the total of the wagon weights. Also, the 



FAEM ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS 93 

total of the values of the different loads should equal 
the result of figuring the total net weight at the given 
price. 

2. Make out a scale ticket and find the amount 
received for five loads of hogs at $5.25 per 100 
pounds. Gross weights: 2974, 3025, 2889, 2986, 3116, 
Wagon weights: 1210, 1190, 1275, 1280, 1312. 

3. Make out a scale ticket and find the amount 
received for five loads of oats sold at 42 cents per 
bushel. Gross weights: 2900,.2842, 2736, 2937, 2854. 
Wagon weights: 1187, 1264, 1235, 1210, 1224. 

4. Make out a scale ticket and find the amount 
received for four loads of shelled corn sold at 52 cents 
per bushel. Gross weights: 3664, 3580, 3376, 3610. 
Wagon weights: 1200, 1224, 1185, 1240. 

5. Make out a scale ticket and find the amount 
received for ten loads of potatoes sold at 60 cents per 
bushel. Gross weights: 3168, 3040, 3276, 3100, 3000, 
2940, 2865, 2986, 3012, 2730. Wagon weights: 1262, 
1214, 1200, 1262, 1214, 1200, 1262, 1214, 1200, 1262. 

6. Find the value of five loads of hay sold at $6.25 
per ton. Gross weights: 3180, 3375, 3464, 3490. 
3388. Wagon weiglits: 1175, 1190, 1240, 1245, 1260. 

7. The milk weights for a week run as follows, by 
days : 475, 460, 450, 455, 470, 480, 485. In each case 
the weight of 5 cans at 15 pounds each should be 
deducted from these gross weights. If the milk tests 
4 per cent l)uttei' fat and the price of butter fat is 
25 cents per ])oiind. wlnit will l)e tlie check for the 



94 THE CORN LADY 

week? What will be the return if the test is 3.3 per 
cent? 

8. The weights of cream shipped each day run as 
follows : 64, G3, 67, 70, 72, 71, 70. Deduct 15 pounds 
for weight of can and figure returns on a price of 25 
cents for butter fat, if cream tests 40 per cent. Figure 
net returns after deducting an express charge of 40 
cents per 100 pounds on the gross weight shipped and 
5 cents each for the return of the empty cans. 

9. The weights of ten bags of clover seed run as 
follows: 164, 163, 164, 160, 163, 159, 150, 155, 154, 
156. Allowing one pound each for the weiglit of the 
bags, how mucli clover seed is there, and what is it 
worth at $7 per bushel ? 

10. The weights of eight bags of timothy seed run 
as follows: 107, 109, 105, 106, 101, 111, 107, 107. 
Allowing one pound each for the weight of the sacks, 
liow much timothy seed is there, and what is it worth 
at $1.75 per bushel? 

Painting and Papering 

In painting, allow (me gallon of ])aint for every 250 
square feet of surface to be painted. 

1. A room is 12 feet wide, 15 (wt long, and feet 
higli. It has two windows and one door, each al)out 3 
feet by 6 feet. TIow many rolls of paper will be 
required to paper the walls? How much for the ceil- 
ing? How many yards of border ? If the paper costs 



FARM ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS 95 

20 cents a roll and the border 3 cents a yard, and the 
paper hanger charges 25 cents a roll for hanging the 
paper and 3 cents a yard for the border, what will be 
the total cost? 

2. Measure the school room you are in and find 
out what it would cost to paper it, allowing that the 
paper would cost 15 cents per roll and the work of 
banging it 20 cents per roll? How much for the pa- 
per alone ? 

3. How much would it cost to paint the outside of 
the school house, if the paint cost $1.65 per gallon? 
What would the painter charge for putting it on, at 5 
cents per square yard ? 

4. How much would it cost to paint the roof of 
the school house, if the roof paint cost 90 cents per 
gallon and the work of putting it on 3 cents per 
square yard ? 

Farm Sales 

1. An auctioneer gets for his pay one per cent of 
the total received. If a sale amounts to $3,457.50, 
what does he receive ? 

2. Some auctioneers get $10 and one per cent of 
the total of the sale. What would this amount to on 
al)ove sale? 

3. Tlie icM'ins of sale arc: Sums under $10, casb. 
Amounts over that, one year's time at per cent in- 
terest, or 2 per cent oil for casli. A man buys a 
horse for $150. What will he lla^■e to jjay for it at 



96 THE CORN LADY 

the end of the year's time, including the interest? 
How much if he pays cash ? 

4. If the terms are, one year's time without in- 
terest or 8 per cent off for cash, what will he have 
to pay at the end of the year? What if he pays 
cash ? 

5. If the terms are, sums under $10 cash, over 
that amount 8 per cent discount, will it pay better 
to bid $9.50 and pay the net cash, or $10.25 and get 
the discount? 

('). Ear corn at a sale is usually sold and measured 
off at 4,300 cubic inches to the bushel. How does this 
agree with the common rule of 2 bushels to each 5 
cubic feet? 

r. A crib of corn 10 feet by 12 feet by 32 feet is 
sold at 4,300 cubic inches to the bushel at 51 cents 
])er bushel. What does it come to? If the terms 
are 8 per cent discount for cash, what will be the 
net cost? What will be the net cost per bushel? 

8. Have tluj pupils get the figures on some actual 
transactions at farm sales and figure up the discount 
and the interest charges according to the terms of 
the sale. 

Farm Labor and Its Payment 

In counting up tinu\ count 26 working da3^s to a 
month, 10 hours to a day. and 6 days to a week. 
1. If a man is getting $30 a month, how much is 



FARM ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS 97 

that a day? How much a week? How mucii an 
hour ? 

2. Which is the bigger pay — $10 a week, or $40 a 
month ? 

3. A man works from March 1 to June 20, los- 
ing four days in that time. What would his wages 
amount to at $30 per month? (The number ot 
working days can be counted on a calendar.) 

4. A man working at $10 a week loses one-half of 
one day and two hours another day. What will he re- 
ceive, after counting out his lost time ? 

5. A man working at $25 per month, begins 
March 15 and works till August 12, losing 9 days 
during that time. He has drawn at different times 
$47. How much is coming to him ? 

6. A man in town is getting $1.75 a day and has 
to pay $4 a week board. Another man is working on 
a farm at $30 a month and board. Which is really 
the bigger pay ? How much ? 

7. Which is the bigger net pay — $30 a month and 
board, or $10 a week and pay $3.50 a week board? 

8. An acre contains 160 square rods, or 4,356 
square feet. Corn is ordinarily planted 3 feet, 6 
inches, each way. How many hills to an acre? 

9. If a man is hired to cut up corn at 10 cents a 
shock, 14 hills square, how much is this an acre? 
How much an acre if the shocks are 16 hills square? 

10. If a man is paid 3 cents per 1)ushel for husk- 
ing corn, what will he earn for the week if his loads 



98 THE COEX LADY 

run as follows, allowing 1,200 pounds out for the 
weight of the wagon each time : Gross weights of 
loads— 3650, 3630, 3700, 3760, 3750, 3710, 3420, 
2910, 3400, 3450, 3510, 3580? 

11. Have each pupil bring to school the actual fig- 
ures on a settlement for farm labor, and have the 
class work it out. 

Farm Drainage 

1. A 40-acre piece of low land (a quarter of a 
mile across) is 3 feet, 4 inches, higher at one side 
than the other. How much fall will this be to the 
rod? 

2. Tf the tile cost $20 per 1000, each tile l)eing a 
foot long, and the lading of them costs 25 cents per 
rod, what will it cost to lay four strings of tile across 
tliis 40 acres? 

3. How much will this amount to per acre? 

4. If it increases tlie yield of corn on this land 
an average of 5 bushels per 3^ear for ten years, what 
will this increase of corn be worth at 40 cents per 
bushel? How much on the whole 40 acres? 

5. What will be the net gain per acre over the 
cost of tiling? What will be the net gain on the 
whole 40 acres ? 

6. A 40-acre field is a quarter of a mile (80 rods) 
each way. How many rods of tile will it take to run 
diagonally across it, coming in at one corner and out 
at the other corner? Draw a diagram of this. 



FAEM AEITHMETIC PEOBLEMS 99 

7. Measure the distance across the school ground 
the long way and estimate the numl)er of tile it 
would take to lay one string of tiling across it. How 
much would it cost, reckoning the tile at $30 per 
1000 and the laying at 25 cents per rod? 

8. The very wettest of land can be thoroughly 
drained (if a proper outlet can be had) by laying 
lines of tiling three rods apart. To drain a field 20 
rods wide and 80 rods long in this way, running the 
tile the long way of the field, how much tile will 
be required, and what would it cost ? Draw diagram. 

9. The gain in 3deld from tiling would be at least 
10 bushels of corn per acre, or its equivalent in other 
crops. If the tiling lasted for 30 years, what would 
be the total gain ? What would be the net gain ? 



Handy Farm Measures 

1. A bushel of small grain or shelled corn is 1^ 
cubic feet. To find the capacity of a bin, multiply the 
length, breadth, and depth, together (in feet) and 
take 4-5 of it. 

2. A bushel of ear corn is 2 14 cubic feet. To find 
the capacity of a crib in bushels, multiply the length, 
breadth, and depth, together (in feet), and take 
2-r) of it. 

o. A bushel of apples or potatoes is 1 1-3 cul)ic 
feet. To find the bushels, take % of the cubic feet. 



100 THE CORN LADY 

4. The area of a circle is about % tliat of a 
square of the same diameter. The exact fraction is 
.7854. So to find the area of a circle, multiply the 
diameter by itself, and multiply the result by .7854, 
which is the same as taking a little over % of it. 

5. The circumference (distance around) of a cir- 
cle is a little more than three times the diameter. The 
exact fraction is 3.1416. 

6. To find the contents of a pointed heap of corn, 
find the area of the bottom of the pile in square 
feet, and multiply that by half the height of the 
highest point. This will give you the cubic feet, 
which can be reduced to bushels. To find the con- 
tents of a circular crib of corn, find the area of the 
circular base, and multiply tliat by the height. This 
will give the cul)ic feet. 

7. A ton of tame hay will about equal a space 
8x8x8 feet. Wild hay, 7x7x7 feet. 

8. A barrel of water is al)out 4 cubic feet. 

9. A cul)ic foot of water weighs 621/2 pounds. 

10. An acre is 160 square rods; 43,560 square 
feet ; 4840 square yards. 

11. The board foot used in reckoning lumber is a 
square foot an inch thick. 

12. A gallon is a trifle over % of a cubic fool. To 
find the capacity of a tank, estimate the contents in 
cubic feet, and multiply by 8 for the number of gal- 
lons, and divide by 4 for the number of barrels. This 
will be very nearly correct. 



FAEM ARITHMETIC PEOBLEMS 101 

13. To find the number of pounds of butter fat in 
in milk. Take the test per cent of the number of 
pounds of milk. For instance, if milk tests 4 per 
cent, 50 pounds of milk will contain 2 pounds of 
butter fat. 



Spraying Mixtures 
for biting insects 

Dry Paris Green Wet Paris Green. 

Paris green 1 lb. Paris green 14 l^J- 

Lime or Lime 1/4 to I/2 H^- 

flour . . . 20 to 50 lbs. Water 50 gals. 

for soft-lodied sucking insects 

Kerosene Emulsion 

Hard soap (in fme shavings) V^ lb. 

Water 1 gal. 

Kerosene 2 gals. 

Dissolve soap in boiling water, add kerosene to the 
hot water, churn witli spraying pump until tlie mix- 
ture changes to a creamy, then to a soft, Ijutter- 
like mass. This gives three gallons of (JG per cent 
oil emulsion which may be diluted to the strength 



102 THE CORN LADY 

desired. To get 15 per cent oil emulsion add ten 
and one-half gallons water. 

FOR FUNGOUS DISEASES 

Cori'EK Sulphate 

Copper sulphate 1 Ih. 

Water 18 to 25 gals. 

Use only hefore foliage, opens, to kill wintering 
spores. 

Bordeaux Mixture 

Copper sulphate 5 Ihs. 

Lime (good and unslacked) 5 lbs. 

Water 50 gals. 



A List of Useful Bulletins 

Simpl}^ on request, a large number of government 
l)u]]etin^ on subjects of the greatest interest to stu- 
dents in a country school, may be obtained. Ad- 
dress the United States Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C. 

Circular Number 2. Gives a list of all publica- 
tions for free distribution. 

The Year Book of Agriculture. Gives much valu- 
able information. 

Tt would be well to have the following l)ulletins 
on hnnd at the beginning of the term : 

Farmers' Bulletins Xos. 408, 28, 188, 89, 214, 215, 



FARM AEITHMETIC PROBLEMS 103 

192, Ti, 4-1, 40, 187, ITO, 55, )l\), 42, 03, 57, 201, 
lOO, 409. 

U. 8. Bulletins Nos. 91, 32, 38, 75, 45, 99, 132, 
171, 196, 141, 41, 200, 64, 408, 289, 179, 205, 49. 

Your own state college of agriculture, also will 
furnish you with many bulletins especially valuable 
as they deal with the special problems of your 
own state. 

Secure the soil survey map of your own county, if 
it has been made. Tbis can be secured tbrougb tlie 
State College of Agriculture. 

Language in Connection With the Teaching of 
Farm and Home Subjects. 

Every pupil needs much careful training in how 
to express himself clearly and correctly. He can 
best learn to use good English by writing or tell- 
ing of things of which he knows, things that are a 
part of his life and his work ; or, subjects on which he 
can get information from the people around him. 
We must have some personal interest, or some first 
hand information in order to gain anything in try- 
ing to express ourselves. 

Let the children write on subjects such as the fol- 
lowing : 

How Can We Get Good Roads? 

How to Make a King Road Drag. 

Home Xursino". 



104 THE CORN LADY 

Are Birds of Use to the Farmer? 

Keeping tlie Soil Fertile. 

Alfalfa. 

The Silo. 

Bread Making. 

The Eight and the Wrong Way. 

Why I Like to Live in the County. 

Horses and Their Feed. 

Growing Apples. 

Wild Flowers and Their Use in Beautifying Home 
and School Grounds. 

Does Farming Pay ? 

The Selecting, Storing and Testing of Seed Corn. 

The Farmer's Lihrary and Heading Table. 

Modern Conveniences in the Farm Home. 

Getting Eid of Flies. 

The Story of the Life of a Great Farmer. 

Many more subjects could be given. The sub- 
jects must be suited to the knowledge and inter- 
est of the pupils as well as to the needs of the homes 
and the farms in the community. 

Wherever possible, such composition should be il- 
lustrated by original drawing and diagrams. - Clip- 
pings from agricultural papers and bulletins may be 
used to good advantage, also. Thorough, original 
investigation should be the basis for all such work. 
It will not only make students who can write well, 
but it will make students who can think and judge 
for themselves. 



FARM ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS 105 
Corn. 

The usual distance between hills is 3 ft. 8 in. If 
checked at this distance apart, there are 3240 hills 
in one acre. If there is a perfect stand, three stalks 
in a hill, and each stalk has one twelve- ounce ear of 
corn on it, the field will produce 104 bushels of corn 
on an acre. Yet, the average yield in the United 
States is only 38 bu. to the acre. 

To secure a good yield of corn we must have 
good seed, good soil and good cultivation. 

Corn Judging. 

The object in judging corn is to determine the 
corn that when planted will produce the most corn 
of the best quality. The score card used by the 
Extension Department of the Iowa State College of 
Agriculture is plain, logical and easily grasped. It 
takes up the points under four heads. 
I. WILL IT YIELD? 25 points. 

That is, will it yield well ; has it constitu- 
tion; can we depend upon it even when weather 
conditions are unfavorable? 
IL WILL IT RIPEX? 25 points. 

That is, will it mature ; will it ripen every 
year; is it safe for the locality? 
IIL DOES IT SHOW IMPROVEMENT? 25 
points. 

That is, has it breeding; lias it a distinct 



106 THE COE^ LADY 

tyiK'.; will it reproduce itself; lias it several 
years of eai'ei'ul selection and iinprovenieiit back 
of it? 
TV. AVILL IT GROW? 25 points. 

That is, has it vitality; will it germinate; will 
it all grow and grow nniforml}', giving strong, 
vigorous plants ? 

Bread. 

United States CJovernnient r)nlletins Xos. 5?, 67, 
101, 11"? and 1?1 will give information on bread 
worlc. 

Score Card for Bread. 

SCALE OF POINTS 

Perfect Score. 

1. FLAVOr?, sweet and nutty as deter- 

mined by the taste 25 

2. LIGHTNESS, well risen, as determined 

by weight of the loaf measured by the 
weight of the materials used 15 

3. SWEETNESS, free from sour, musty or 

yeasty smell, as determined by the odor. . 10 

4. TEXTURE AND GRAIN. These are 

closely associated and are judged by the 
fineness and tenderness of the crumb 
(crumb is the inside of the loaf and 
crust the outside). Should be elastic, uni- 
form and smooth and free from large 
holes 15 



FAEM AEITHMETIC PEOBLEMS 107 

5. COLOE, should be creani}^ white 15 

6. CEUST, should be about 3-8 of an inch 

in dejjth, of a very fine texture, and a 
golden brown color 5 

7. SHAPE A^^D SIZE, should be about 

Sy^xT^xS inches 5 

8. DOUGHIXESS AXD MOISTUEE. Bread 

should spring back when an impression 
is made by the fingers. Crust sliould be 
crisp and crumble easily 10 

Total 100 

Rules for Making Button Holes. 

1. Cut slit the diameter of the button to be used. 

2. First strand the button hole by taking one or 
more long stitches to the extreme end of the slit and 
back again on the opposite side. The button hole 
stitch will cover and be strengthened by them. 

3. Overcast over the stranding. This overcast- 
ing must not be deep or it will show. 

4. Take the first stitch by putting the needle into 
the slit close to the end and bring it out far enough 
from the edge of the slit to avoid danger from ravel- 
linfif. The thread must be thrown from the eve of 
tlie needle under the point in the direction the work 
is advancing. Tuiii the corners of the slit by placing 
t1ie stitches fan-shaped around the end. 



AUG l§ 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



AUG Tt I9f| 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




ODDm3SH3S'=3 






iitfttiZ 




r'HM'jn:; 



■iiiiii 



if 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiii 

iiflf rl!'-. '-•;!. '•!:nMil !!•: 



1111 



m 





